Institute of Product Leadership

Why Product Managers Are Questioning Their Relevance in 2025

When Experience Starts to Feel Like Luggage

You’ve shipped features, led teams, and built solid products. You’ve been doing this for a while. But lately, there’s this nagging thought:
 “Is what I know still enough?”

If that’s crossed your mind, you’re not alone.

At the Institute of Product Leadership (IPL), we’ve been hearing this more and more—from alumni calls, meetups, and quiet moments in conference hallways. Surprisingly, it’s not the juniors. It’s the experienced product managers who are asking this the most.

So what’s behind this quiet anxiety?

The short answer is AI (Artificial Intelligence).

It’s not just the buzz or flashy ChatGPT demos. It’s the growing realization that the way products are being built is changing, and so is the role of the person leading them.

In this article
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    The Shift That’s Catching PMs Off Guard

    For years, product management meant being the steady hand in chaos. You focused on defining problems, understanding users, prioritizing features, and guiding execution.

    Now, the systems you work in are starting to think for themselves.

    Suddenly, you’re hearing things like:

    • “What happens if the model behaves differently tomorrow?”

    • “What’s our fallback if the AI makes a mistake?”

    • “How do we track model drift?”

    • “Can we add something with AI in this sprint?”

    And you’re expected to make sense of it all. Many product managers aren’t sure how.

    “But I’m Not a Techie…” And That’s Okay

    This is something we hear often:
     “I don’t have a tech background. Can I even handle AI product management?”

    The answer is yes.

    You don’t need to be technical. What you do need is curiosity, context, and clarity. Your role isn’t to build the model. It’s to:

    • Know when AI is actually needed

    • Define what success looks like

    • Ask the right questions to your team

    • Design with uncertainty in mind

    • Protect your users, your brand, and your business from unintended consequences

    If you’ve ever helped translate between UX, engineering, and business, you’re already more equipped than you realize.

    executive mba in product management

    What We’re Hearing From the Frontlines?

    At the Institute of Product Leadership, we learn directly from working professionals. Here’s what PMs have shared with us recently:

    • “I led the launch of a recommendation engine, but I didn’t realize the model might reinforce bias until it was live.”

    • “We were sprinting toward model improvements, but I didn’t know how to build a roadmap around that.”

    • “I wish I had the vocabulary to say: we don’t need AI here, we just need good UX.”

    These aren’t failures. These are learning moments. And they can be addressed with the right kind of support and learning.

    The Rise of the AI-Literate PM

    This isn’t about becoming a unicorn. It’s about becoming a new kind of Product leader. One who:

    • Doesn’t code but knows when code matters

    • Understands that data is a product too

    • Thinks in terms of experiments, not just deadlines

    • Can sense when an AI product isn’t ready, even if the model works

    • Builds trust, not just features

    This is the kind of PM teams look to when AI is in the mix.

    That’s why we designed the ICAIPM – International Certification in AI Product Management at IPL.

    It’s not a technical bootcamp or a buzzword crash course. It’s a hands-on program that helps working professionals:

    • See AI through a Product lens

    • Work with real case studies like recommendation engines and AI assistants

    • Learn how to scope features, craft prompts, and navigate data decisions

    • Build confidence to lead AI conversations with all stakeholders

    • Join a community of peers going through the same shift

    Whether you’re in SaaS, fintech, edtech, or hardware, this is built for PMs who want to stay relevant.

    You’re Not Behind. You’re Early.

    Here’s the part no one talks about:

    • If you’re asking these questions now, you’re probably ahead of the curve.
    • If your gut is telling you to explore, learn, and evolve, trust it. That instinct is part of what’s made you a great Product Manager (PM) all along.
    • AI isn’t a threat. It’s an invitation. A new opportunity to lead differently, build better, and ask sharper questions.
    • And those have always been the strengths of great product managers.
    Institute of Product Leadership is Asia’s First Business School providing accredited degree programs and certification courses exclusively in Product Management, Strategy, and Leadership.
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